Founded in 1950 by Yam Cheong Hung, Hung Hing has grown into a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange — with production plants at four locations across China and its headquarters in Hong Kong. Ranked among the leading companies in the printing industry, Hung Hing reported revenues of more than 3 billion Chinese yuan (US$400 million) in 2015. Its wide product range includes folding cartons, corrugated packaging, luxury packaging and books. Hung Hing targets global markets and enjoys a particularly strong reputation in China, the U.S. and Europe.

Building Hung Hing with family value

With some 15,000 employees, Hung Hing is a true global company, but it is managed according to the simple principles of family value. Chief Operating Officer Richard Lim describes the company's management: "Our corporate slogan is extremely simple — family value. I want to ensure that employees not only feel at home but also like their work. We also want to treat our customers as family, regardless of the size of their company, their country or cultural background."
"Chairman and CEO Matthew Yum has a compassionate approach to employees," says Lim, ˝and he is responsible for the company's culture. He enjoys tremendous trust from the employees."

Surpassing the competition by creativity

"Creativity and originality are needed in this age of diversification and individualization. Hung Hing has been able to create many bestsellers for globally famous publishers of children's literature because of our early access to the market and high print quality. Also, Hung Hing's creativity far surpasses the competition. The eight-color Lithrone GX40RP that has just been installed in our Shenzhen plant matches our concept of creativity perfectly, and the software equipped on the machine is also exceptionally innovative. It guarantees production quality and also boosts production efficiency," says Lim.

Know yourself, know your enemy

If you know your enemy and know yourself, you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.
Lim is optimistic about future growth in book printing: "The momentum behind the sales of children's books in the domestic market is strong. This year sales of these books will exceed 20 million Chinese yuan (US$2.9 million), and we expect this to rise next year to 50 million Chinese yuan (US$7.3 million)." He is also confident regarding the sustained growth of the packaging industry.
Lim has an independent view of the overall trends in the printing industry: "The impact of electronically published books was not as great as predicted. Printed books have not been replaced by the e-books that Hung Hing had previously been concerned about. Sales of e-books have increased somewhat in the past year, but they have not taken a greater share of the market. We see great opportunities for increasing the market for children's books both in China and overseas. There have already been gratifying changes in the market for children's books — parents are buying high quality books for their children. Overseas, the prospects are very good in the European market. Unlike others, I believe that the domestic publishing market has been slowly recovering over the past two years. We intend to provide a great deal of support to Chinese publishers to enable them to produce more high quality works."

Bond with Komori — Kando: Beyond Expectations

Hung Hing's Shenzhen Plant installed its first Lithrone GX40RP for package production in May 2016 to handle an increase in the volume of work. Lim and Yam Wai Ming, Offset Operation Manager, offered a summary of their impressions:
"High efficiency. The Lithrone GX40RP is easy to operate, efficiency is exceptional and the feedback that we get from end-users is extremely good. The Lithrone GX40RP is not only excellent for commercial printing work, it is also a tremendously effective solution for package printing. It is particularly well suited to package printing on heavy stock. The configuration of this press is really ideal. Control from the operation stand is outstanding, and the automatic plate changing saves a great deal of time. The balanced control of dampening water and ink works perfectly."
"Productivity. After this press was installed, output rose tremendously. Two 12-hour shifts are currently used at the plant. Each shift produces more than 70,000 sheets, and together the output is 150,000 sheets. This rises to 200,000 sheets on long-run work. It is possible that we will change to a system of three 8-hour shifts to keep employees relaxed and in good spirits — and to raise productivity."

"High uptime. The Lithrone GX40RP just installed as well as two Komori presses previously commissioned have had no major troubles."
"First-class service. With regard to pre-purchase discussions, machine installation and adjustment, training of our staff and after-service, Komori has been marvelous. It was the first installation of a Komori press for our Shenzhen Plant, and Komori's end-to-end support, responsiveness and service left a deep impression on us."
Both Lim and Yam state: "Our experience was beyond our expectations. Particularly with regard to service, we felt the Komori kando."
Lim also mentioned that Hung Hing continues to keep a close eye on Komori's latest digital technology, including its Impremia IS29, the printing system that stole the show at drupa. In addition, Lim has a great interest in Komori's ICT solutions and believes these will be critical for automation, visualization, labor saving and efficiency.
Finally, Lim says that Hung Hing plans to install several machines each year to meet its needs and he looks forward to selecting Komori equipment and opening new pages together.

"Double-sided printing on the newly installed Lithrone GX40RP features single-edge gripping and no sheet reversal, so the margin on the tail edge of the sheets is completely unnecessary, allowing paper costs to be cut and reducing materials costs. This is impossible with many other presses."

—Richard Lim